Ranji Trophy: Vinay Kumar rips through Mumbai

PTI

Published : Dec 8, 2017, 1:44 am IST

Updated : Dec 8, 2017, 6:40 am IST

Karnataka pacer takes six wickets including hat-trick.

Vinay Kumar

Nagpur: Skipper R. Vinay Kumar led from the front with some devastating bowling and picked up a six-wicket haul including a hat-trick to help Karnataka bundle out Mumbai for 173 in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final that began here on Thursday.

Kumar, who made most of the conditions which aided pace bowling after inserting Mumbai in on winning the toss, returned with impressive figures of 6/34, including the hat-trick completed in two overs, as 41-time champions Mumbai crumbled in only 56 overs on day one of the five-day match at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha.

To continue their domination, Karnataka replied with 115/1 by stumps, as they placed themselves 58 runs adrift of Mumbai with their in-form opener Mayank Agarwal unbeaten on 62 in 83 balls with M Abbas (12 not out) for company.

Karnataka, who topped Group A, are all set to take the first innings lead.

Kumar also became the third bowler to complete a hat-trick against Mumbai, the other two being B. Kalyanasundaram for Tamil Nadu in the 1972-73 Ranji final and Raghuram Bhat for Karnataka in the 1981-82 season.

He became the sixth bowler to take a hat-trick in the knock-out stage of the national championship, the last one to achieve the distinction being S. Sen Sharma for Bengal against Delhi in the pre-quarter final of the 1993-94 season.

Kumar wreaked havoc on the Mumbai batting line-up as he removed young and in-form opener Prithvi Shaw (2), edging to first slip Karun Nair, with the last ball of his first over with the score on 6.